High five — episode 2
We made it to 2021 and it is de rigueur to wish everyone a happy new year.
So did High five and we welcome you to the second edition of our bi-monthly curated list of 5 items focused on family tech. Let’s dig in and see what are the topics we selected for this episode.
1. Where girls use magic and boys are clever
As part of research for an education project, I realised how content for kids is lacking in diversity. The original language (mostly English), the characters, the types of stories, we are serving our kids a content menu which feels uninspiring and uniform. This quote from a 2019 report sums it all up: “Finally, in both countries, females on children’s TV are 2x as likely to use magic to resolve problems, while males are more likely to use STEM skills and physical power.” But of course! If a girl has to solve it, it can only be through magic.
You can find a brief summary of the report’s key findings at the link below and a few other interesting articles.
2. The device gap — from cheap plastic toys to the iPhone
Bill Gates supposedly gave his kids a smartphone only when they turned 14. In 2016, the average age for access to a device was already just below 11 years old and that trend does not seem to stop. So what do you get as a parent to a 10 year old kid? Well there is not much choice and until today, we simply pushed our adults devices and apps into the hands of kids with more or less success. Parents however are becoming more conscious about their kids becoming swipe zombies and look for connected devices which are designed for kids (e.g tonies, yotoplay, fitbit ).
I believe there is a large market to open up for software and hardware for small kids. We will create devices for kids which are much more connected to their senses: hearing, sight and touch. Audio products seem to be the first wave and are still at very early days (post to come on that), but soon we might see devices making use of cameras and augmented reality to provide a new way for kids to interact with the world around them.
3. What kind of school would YOU make?
This post is simply a book recommendation, “Prepared: What kids need for a fulfilled life” by Diane Tavenner is an inspiring story and a very interesting approach to school and education in general. We discovered it via Bill Gates reading list and his post about it is the best way to introduce the book.
4. VCs in family tech
Last time we talked to you about Lego Ventures and today we present you an other VC focused on Education (they are actually pretty rare). Meet Reach Capital, a VC firm dedicated to invest in education because “they believe itʼs our most valuable resource”. If you are looking for a job in education, their job board is pretty cool (all VCs should have one of those) and they have some interesting companies in the portfolio. Check out one of their latest investment Sketchy, a medical platform with an interesting approach to learning using the Method of Loci.
5. The upcoming debate of kids and privacy
Have you ever heard of COPPA? Me neither, until recently. COPPA is a US law regulating the collection of personal information about kids under the age of 13. Now mix COPPA, GDPR, getting devices around the age of 10 and the growing portfolio of smart digital devices for kids and you get a proper headache to solve in the years to come. We will need a global and structured approach to digital and privacy for kids and it will become a very political and cultural question (post to come).
That’s it, thanks for reading. Let us know if the content was interesting, and until next time, High Five.
